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Operations that keep up with the business
We review and redesign the operations of funds and broker-dealers, tie each change to a specific deliverable, and leave the result documented and, where it makes sense, automated.
Fund and asset manager operations
| Function | What we review, build or fix | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Fund accounting oversight | Review of the administrator's NAV, expense accruals and allocations, management and performance fee calculations, and the month-end close calendar. | A NAV review checklist, a fee calculation check and a close calendar with owners |
| Treasury and financing | Cash and margin management, collateral, financing and securities lending terms, share class hedging and counterparty exposure. | A daily cash and margin process and a counterparty exposure report |
| Investor operations | Subscriptions and redemptions, capital activity, investor reporting, side letter obligations and operational due diligence questionnaires. | A side letter register and a maintained due diligence questionnaire library |
| Valuation | Pricing sources and hierarchy, hard-to-value positions, the valuation committee and the documentation auditors ask for. | A valuation policy, pricing matrix and committee record |
| Middle office | Daily positions and P&L, independent price checks, reconciliation to the prime broker and the administrator, and the process for resolving differences. | An automated reconciliation with an exception log and aging |
| Trading operations | Allocation, confirmation, give-ups and settlement across executing brokers and the prime broker. | A documented order-to-settlement flow with controls at each handoff |
| Counterparty documentation | Prime brokerage, ISDA and credit support, give-up and clearing agreements, and what each one requires of the firm. | One register of agreements, key terms and notice obligations |
| Regulatory reporting operations | The data behind Form PF, Form 13F, large trader and beneficial ownership filings. | Filings produced from the books on a controlled calendar |
| Management company finance | Budget, vendor spend, expense allocation between the fund and the manager, and the cost of the operation. | An expense allocation policy and a cost-per-function view |
Broker-dealer operations
For agency, institutional and introducing firms.
| Function | What we review, build or fix | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Financial operations | General ledger, net capital computation, FOCUS preparation support, regulatory fees and assessments, and the annual audit with the FINOP. | A month-end close checklist and a net capital review process |
| Commissions and billing | Commission schedules, client billing, soft dollar and commission sharing administration, research and vendor payments, and receivables. | Automated billing and commission reports with a reconciliation to the ledger |
| Clearing relationship | Clearing agreement terms, daily files, reconciliation to the clearing firm, deposits and fees, and conversion when the relationship changes. | A clearing reconciliation and a fee review against the agreement |
| Registration and licensing | Form U4 and U5 processing, continuing education tracking, branch and residential supervisory location records, and annual renewals. | A licensing tracker tied to CRD and the supervisory structure |
| Regulatory and trade reporting | Consolidated Audit Trail reporting and error correction, trade reporting, and the reviews that show the data is complete and accurate. | An error-rate dashboard and a documented correction workflow |
| Best execution review | Regular and rigorous review of execution quality under FINRA Rule 5310. | A review template, committee minutes and the data that supports them |
| Surveillance operations | Exception queues, alert review, escalation and evidence that each alert was handled. | An alert workflow with documented dispositions |
| Processing and settlement | Booking, allocations, DVP and RVP settlement, options give-ups and CMTA, fails and error accounts. | A settlement and fails process with an error account policy |
| Market data and exchange administration | Entitlements, exchange and vendor billing, and the declarations that go with them. | An entitlement inventory reconciled to invoices |
Across both
Operating model and organization
Who owns each process, what is done in-house and what is outsourced, and whether the team is sized and structured for the next stage of the firm.
Process automation
Allocations, commissions, reconciliations, billing and reporting rebuilt to run on schedule with an audit trail, using the firm's own systems and data.
Data and reporting
One source for trades, positions and P&L, with every management, investor and regulatory report traceable back to it.
Vendors and systems
OMS, EMS, PMS, administrators, archiving, surveillance and market data reviewed for cost, fit and overlap, with selection, contracts and migration support.
Resilience and security
Business continuity, cybersecurity controls, access management and vendor due diligence that hold up when tested.
Transitions
A departing operations lead, a new administrator or clearing firm, a systems conversion, a lift-out or a new product line, planned so nothing drops.
Technology and data
We map the systems the firm runs, what each one costs, and where data is rekeyed between them, then recommend what to keep, consolidate or replace.
| Layer | What it covers | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Order and execution management | OMS and EMS, broker connectivity and allocation | Fit to the strategy, broker coverage and how allocations reach the books |
| Portfolio and risk | Positions, exposure, P&L and risk reporting | One source of positions, and whether risk reports match the books |
| Accounting and administration | Shadow accounting, administrator feeds and the general ledger | File formats, timing and the reconciliation between them |
| Investor and client systems | CRM, investor portal and reporting | Whether investor data lives in one place and reports come from it |
| Compliance technology | Archiving, surveillance, personal trading and policy platforms | Coverage of every channel the firm uses, and alert quality |
| Market and reference data | Pricing, security master and corporate actions | Licensing cost against use, and data quality at the source |
| Infrastructure and security | Hosting, access management, backups and business continuity | Who has access to what, and whether recovery has actually been tested |
How an engagement runs
Diagnostic
A fixed-scope review of the processes in question: how they run today, what they cost in time and risk, and what a fix would take. Sometimes the answer is that the current process is good enough, and we say so.
Design
The target process, the controls inside it and the systems or automation it needs, agreed with the people who will run it.
Build
The new workflow, reports and automation, run in parallel with the old process until the results match.
Handover
Procedures, a runbook and training, so the firm owns the result and does not depend on us to keep it running.